For Hawai’i Army National Guardsmen Sgt. William Castillo, Sgt. Fernando Guillermo and specialist Nathan Niitani, Saturday’s weapons-testing exercise in Kekaha could have been just a game of hitting the target. Instead, the exercise, which involved the use of the M-4
For Hawai’i Army National Guardsmen Sgt. William Castillo, Sgt. Fernando Guillermo and specialist Nathan Niitani, Saturday’s weapons-testing exercise in Kekaha could have been just a game of hitting the target.
Instead, the exercise, which involved the use of the M-4 carbine — the replacement for the Vietnam War-era M-16 weapon — was a lesson in survival.
Being able to kill or disable an enemy in a foreign conflict through improved marksmanship will enable them to live to fight another day, the guardsmen said.
“This is what we work for. Getting ready so that they can do their job,” said Staff Sgt. Phillip Kamakea, a non-commission training officer, who helps coordinate the annual live fire exercise.
The guardsmen were among 65 soldiers of Alpha Company, Second Battalion of the Hawai’i Army National Guard who participated in daytime and nighttime weapons qualification exercises at a state firing range next to Kaua’i County’s Kekaha landfill.
The 120 or so soldiers that make up Alpha Company, which is assigned to the Kapa’a and Hanapepe armories, are all from Kaua’i, although some guardsman from other counties occasionally train with it.
The results of the test were not immediately available, but the soldiers who passed the test would be eligible for deployment and promotions, said First Sgt. Pat Quel.
Castillo, 31, said he wanted to do well because “it boils to I shoot them before they shoot me. It is that simple.”
Castillo, a hunter since he was 8 years old, said he has sharpened his marksmanship by hunting on Kaua’i and wants to serve his country.
“I have good boys who would follow me there,” Castillo said.
Guillermo, 39, who was assigned to an Army Patriot missile unit during the Gulf War 10 years ago, said he wanted to pass the weapons tests so he could be ready to be redeployed to protect American interests in foreign conflicts.
“As an infantryman, my main idea is to get (an enemy troop) before he gets me, so that I can live to fight another day,” Guillermo said.
Many guardsman served in the Army and joined the Hawai’i Army National Guard to maintain ties to the military.
Niitani, a 1991 Waimea High School graduate, said the training and testing with the M-4 carbine will help him become a better infantryman.
Unlike the older M-16, the M-4 is lighter, can better accommodate laser sighting and night-time vision devices and has a gunstock that can be collapsed when used in high brush, Kamakea said.
The guardsmen took practice shots and, in order to pass the daytime test, were required to hit 10 targets at least 25 times from a distance of 75 feet. The targets simulated distances ranging from 150 feet to 900 feet, half the range of the M-4.
From foxholes and weapons propped up on sandbags at the range, soldiers fired away at targets.
In some cases, puffs of dirt erupted from the hillside behind the targets, suggesting the shots either went wide of the targets or went through the targets as intended.
During the nighttime exercise, the guardsman were tested on their ability to hit targets with laser sighting, night vision devices and tracer bullets.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
